Can Dformers be used to flatten or smooth mesh?

Fauvist

I don't mean smoothing a whole mesh, like a dress, but can a dFormer be used to smooth out small edges or ridges in a mesh.  Like in this image I made, I'd like to smooth out the outer edges of his knees (just because I find the appearance distracting.)

Also, if I'm able to smooth the mesh, can the smoothed mesh be saved?  Or would I have to smooth it every time I open the file.

Also, can anyone recommend a good tutorial for dFormers? 

Thanks!

MelissaGT

I would think so, but dFormers are tricky. You might want to check out https://www.daz3d.com/mesh-grabber

SixDs

I agree with Melissa - DFormers require some investment in time in order to use them skillfully, but they can certainly do what you want. Be prepared to spend some time learning how they work and their options. The results may be very specific to the mesh and the pose, so whether saving them for later use will be valuable or not may be questionable.  There are a number of ways that the changes made by the DFormer can be saved, but perhaps the best way is by creating a morph of the DFormed item and saving that. (i.e. apply the DFormer and export the DFormed item as an object, then use Morph loader Pro to import the saved object back into DAZ Studio with the default item loaded. Save the resultant morph slider.)

Sven Dullah

SixDs said:

I agree with Melissa - DFormers require some investment in time in order to use them skillfully, but they can certainly do what you want. Be prepared to spend some time learning how they work and their options. The results may be very specific to the mesh and the pose, so whether saving them for later use will be valuable or not may be questionable.  There are a number of ways that the changes made by the DFormer can be saved, but perhaps the best way is by creating a morph of the DFormed item and saving that. (i.e. apply the DFormer and export the DFormed item as an object, then use Morph loader Pro to import the saved object back into DAZ Studio with the default item loaded. Save the resultant morph slider.)

Just want to add that you can spawn the dFormer to a morph inside DS in the dFormer pane, no need to do the export thing.

Fauvist

SixDs said:

I agree with Melissa - DFormers require some investment in time in order to use them skillfully, but they can certainly do what you want. Be prepared to spend some time learning how they work and their options. The results may be very specific to the mesh and the pose, so whether saving them for later use will be valuable or not may be questionable.  There are a number of ways that the changes made by the DFormer can be saved, but perhaps the best way is by creating a morph of the DFormed item and saving that. (i.e. apply the DFormer and export the DFormed item as an object, then use Morph loader Pro to import the saved object back into DAZ Studio with the default item loaded. Save the resultant morph slider.)

Considering I've been quarantined in my house for EIGHT weeks,  I may's well give it a try.  I certainly have the time.  I'll have to find some tutorials though.

nicstt

They are too time-consuming and limited imo; I just take whatever I want into blender.

Fauvist

nicstt said:

They are too time-consuming and limited imo; I just take whatever I want into blender.

Is it more time consuming to use the Dformers or to learn Blender and how to move content back and forth between it and DAZ Studio?

barbult

Fauvist said:

nicstt said:

They are too time-consuming and limited imo; I just take whatever I want into blender.

Is it more time consuming to use the Dformers or to learn Blender and how to move content back and forth between it and DAZ Studio?

DFormers will only cause you to pull your hair out, if you try to use them on posed characters. You would be much better off to invest the time in the Blender path, in my opinion. Mesh Grabber is an excellent tool, too, and I love it for quick fixes in DS. But it is limited in capability compared to Blender. 

Richard Haseltine

A dFormer witha  weight map is perfectly usable on a posed figure, though the only real way to use it to smooth a mesh would be to scale it down in a direction at right-angles to the surface. I think a better option within DS wold be a Push Modifier with a weight map so that it targeted the areas you wanted to smooth - weight the depressed areas positively and the raised areas negatively and you could probably get somewhere. Still most applications with sculpting tools have some kind of smoothing tool which might well be less fiddly, especially if you are used to using a brush to achieve effects.

nicstt

I concur with Barbult, Mesh Grabber is a must-have tool.

Learning to import and export is simple enough; if you want workflow for transferring backwards and forwards I'll be glad to show you mine.

You can tackle the different results you're after as individual learning experiences. smoothing can be done in a variety of ways, but there are two main methods I use - and usually a combination; either one on its own would work, and then means only one workflow would be investigated at one time.

There is certainly a learning curve with Blender (i've been using over ten years - could be over 15 or more.), but it is probably at its easiest stage ever; I would still recommend using shortcuts, but they are NOT a requirement in 2.8+ and haven't been for a while.

 

Fauvist

I notice there is somthing called the Geometry Editor in the Tools menu.  What does that do?

Sevrin

Fauvist said:

I notice there is somthing called the Geometry Editor in the Tools menu.  What does that do?

It's used to hide geometry, delete geometry, add material zones.  All kinds of stuff.

marble

nicstt said:

They are too time-consuming and limited imo; I just take whatever I want into blender.

+1

I don't know Blender to any proficient extent but sometimes it is fairly easy to learn bits of it for what you need. I think the sculpting tools do the job for me better than dFormers (which I used to use exclusively). Others use the Hexagon bridge but Hexagon isn't stable enough for my liking.

nicstt

marble said:

nicstt said:

They are too time-consuming and limited imo; I just take whatever I want into blender.

+1

I don't know Blender to any proficient extent but sometimes it is fairly easy to learn bits of it for what you need. I think the sculpting tools do the job for me better than dFormers (which I used to use exclusively). Others use the Hexagon bridge but Hexagon isn't stable enough for my liking.

I didn't like Hexagon; not enough short cuts for me. I decided to work out how to import/export to Blender.

Never even bothered with the new version

scorpio

barbult said:

Fauvist said:

nicstt said:

They are too time-consuming and limited imo; I just take whatever I want into blender.

Is it more time consuming to use the Dformers or to learn Blender and how to move content back and forth between it and DAZ Studio?

DFormers will only cause you to pull your hair out, if you try to use them on posed characters. You would be much better off to invest the time in the Blender path, in my opinion. Mesh Grabber is an excellent tool, too, and I love it for quick fixes in DS. But it is limited in capability compared to Blender. 

Sorry personally I disagree the inability to rotate mesh grabber limits it usefullness greatly.

V3Digitimes

I agree, in this situation, it would be blender immediatly for me. Export, smooth, import as morph. Because with deformers it seems extremly difficult, if not impossible...

Fauvist

nicstt said:

I concur with Barbult, Mesh Grabber is a must-have tool.

Learning to import and export is simple enough; if you want workflow for transferring backwards and forwards I'll be glad to show you mine.

You can tackle the different results you're after as individual learning experiences. smoothing can be done in a variety of ways, but there are two main methods I use - and usually a combination; either one on its own would work, and then means only one workflow would be investigated at one time.

There is certainly a learning curve with Blender (i've been using over ten years - could be over 15 or more.), but it is probably at its easiest stage ever; I would still recommend using shortcuts, but they are NOT a requirement in 2.8+ and haven't been for a while.

 

Do you know if there is a tutorial somewhere that is specifically about exporting figures from DAZ Studio and importing them into Blender, then re-importing the to DAZ Studio?

RGcincy

Richard Haseltine said:

I think a better option within DS wold be a Push Modifier with a weight map so that it targeted the areas you wanted to smooth - weight the depressed areas positively and the raised areas negatively and you could probably get somewhere. 

This is the way I would go too. You can confine it to the are of interest as you paint the weight right on the character. The push modifier and map will save with the scene, I'm not sure if you can save it with the figure itself. 

V3Digitimes

Fauvist said:

nicstt said:

I concur with Barbult, Mesh Grabber is a must-have tool.

Learning to import and export is simple enough; if you want workflow for transferring backwards and forwards I'll be glad to show you mine.

You can tackle the different results you're after as individual learning experiences. smoothing can be done in a variety of ways, but there are two main methods I use - and usually a combination; either one on its own would work, and then means only one workflow would be investigated at one time.

There is certainly a learning curve with Blender (i've been using over ten years - could be over 15 or more.), but it is probably at its easiest stage ever; I would still recommend using shortcuts, but they are NOT a requirement in 2.8+ and haven't been for a while.

 

Do you know if there is a tutorial somewhere that is specifically about exporting figures from DAZ Studio and importing them into Blender, then re-importing the to DAZ Studio?

I know I have this in a tutorial of my store (Easy Modeling And Morphing With Blender), but honestly I think you should be able to find thread on the forum explaining the principle for free (not tried, but there are probably some).

XtraDimensional

scorpio said:

Sorry personally I disagree the inability to rotate mesh grabber limits it usefullness greatly.

IIRC, there is a rotation update coming to the product coming eventually.